Colombia

We are now in Ecuador, staying at the moment in a town called Otavalo, famous for its huge Saturday market. We crossed today into the country and although it’s been over a week since we’ve had a land border crossing we sure didn’t miss it! Our time in Colombia was short but nice. We both agreed this country had some of the best scenery we’d seen thus far, perhaps mostly because of its diversity. In one day we travelled through jungle-like areas, up and down very steep, curvy roads, both dirt and paved, reached a height of over 11,000 ft while riding, experienced our hottest day riding yet (102.2F) and then that night, hovered in down jackets, and saw huge, vast expanses of tundra up very high in the mountains complete with cactus shrubs and clouds racing between them during the rain.
Dave and I very much enjoyed Bogota. We got lost our first night in the city and although it seemed like a negative circumstance at first, it turned out to be a positive one. After collecting our bikes from the Bogota airport we followed the GPS to an airbnb place we had reserved to stay. Either I entered the address incorrectly into Google maps or the GPS just wasn’t able to discern the odd numbering from there but we ended up on the other end of the city. It was about 8:30 p.m. and we were exhausted from flying and going through the motions of releasing our bikes from customs. We really just wanted our beds for the night but it wasn’t to be.
Dave pulled over on steep curve in the road. We hummed and hawed about what to do when he said there was a guy standing a few feet down the road. I went to ask him if he had data on his phone so we could sort this out. He didn’t but he said the hotel above did. Only then did I notice he was a security guard standing under a rock archway for a very steep cobblestone driveway that disappeared around a dark corner. I walked up and suddenly was in this gigantic flat terrace—a parking lot with cars from which emerged what seemed to be the city’s most beautiful people out for a night on the town. The restaurant was called Tramonti and was made mostly of thatch and wood with huge windows overlooking the glittering and vast city of Bogota. Inside I asked the hostess if I could use their internet because we were lost. So ensued a large group effort between her, another waiter and the very kind English speaking hotel manager, Antonio. While they began to Google map the address, (an endeavour that took some effort as the internet was very slow), I ran back down the driveway to Dave and to grab my bike. We both rode our bikes up the driveway after doing a sporty U-turn through traffic on the steep curvy road. The staff did everything they could to help us. Antonio even called the number of the airbnb person we were staying with, Santiago, who offered to pay a cab to lead us to his house in La Candelaria, a gorgeous historical district in Bogota. Incidentally, Santiago’s house is an incredible old building he bought to live in and also use part of its huge spaciousness as a restaurant in the future. As we were waiting for the cab, Antonio bought us both a drink. They were already nice enough helping us and now a free drink! We vowed to return the following night as it was Feb. 14 and we both felt it was the perfect place for a Valentine’s Day dinner (even if I’d have to wear pants and a t-shirt in contrast to the heels and dresses). After our graffiti tour, we did go back to Tramonti and had an amazing meal. Definitely check this place out if you’re in Bogota.
Another highlight was taking the very cheap ($3) cable car up to the top of a nearby peak, which houses a huge old church. The view from there was amazing. The only downside was we were starving and looking forward to a meal in one of the two restaurants up there but for some reasons the restaurants were closed and we just barely grabbed our hot chocolates and microwaved empanadas out from under the rolling security door of a café before they closed for the evening. Still very worthwhile for the view of the city.